Latest Plant anatomy Stories

Microscopic ridges contouring the surface of flower petals might play a role in flashing that come-hither look pollinating insects can't resist. Michigan State University scientists and colleagues now have figured out how those form.The result could help researchers learn to enhance plants' pollination success and even could lead to high-grip nanomaterials and "green chemical" feedstocks."Surprisingly, our work on plant surface biochemistry became a birds and bees and flowers...

Biologists have identified plant enzymes that may help to engineer plants that take advantage of elevated carbon dioxide to use water more efficiently. The finding could help to engineer crops that take advantage of rising greenhouse gases.Plants take in the carbon dioxide they need for photosynthesis through microscopic breathing pores in the surface of leaves. But for each molecule of the gas gained, they lose hundreds of water molecules through these same openings. The pores can tighten to...

Guide to pumpkin, melon and plant vascular systemThe genome of the cucumber has been sequenced by an international consortium lead by Chinese and U.S. institutions. The annotated genome is published online Nov. 1 by the journal Nature Genetics.The cucumber genome will give insight into the genetics of the whole cucurbit family, which includes pumpkins and squash, melon and watermelon, and be a platform for research in plant biology, said William Lucas, professor and chair of the Department of...

Scientists identify enzyme that could help grow biofuel crops in harsh environmentsScientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a novel enzyme responsible for the formation of suberin "” the woody, waxy, cell-wall substance found in cork. While effective at keeping wine inside a bottle, suberin's most important function in plants is to control water and nutrient transportation and keep pathogens out. Adjusting the permeability of plant...

Study explores how increasing CO2 concentrations may be affecting trees and water and carbon cyclesThe many environmental issues facing our society are prevalent in the media lately. Global warming, rainforest devastation, and endangered species have taken center stage. Our ecosystem is composed of a very delicate network of interactions among all species and the non-living environment. Predicting how each component of this complex system will respond to the many environmental changes...

Researchers work on part of Darwin's 'abominable mystery'Approximately 120-130 million years ago, one of the most significant events in the history of the Earth occurred: the first flowering plants, or angiosperms, arose. In the late 1800s, Darwin referred to their development as an "abominable mystery." To this day, scientists are still challenged by this "mystery" of how angiosperms originated, rapidly diversified, and rose to dominance. (See the January 2009 issue of...

Plant roots provide the crops we eat with water, nutrients and anchorage. Understanding how roots grow and how hormones control that growth is crucial to improving crop yields, which will be necessary to address food security and produce better biofuels. Now an international group of scientists, led by the Center for Plant Integrative Biology at The University of Nottingham, has shed light on how a plant hormone is crucial in controlling the growth of plant roots.Plant growth is driven by an...

Israeli scientists say they have discovered the self-watering mechanism of the Negev desert rhubarb, which harvests 16 times more water than other plants. Researchers at the University of Haifa-Oranim said the desert rhubarb grows in the mountains of Israel's Negev desert, where average precipitation is particularly low. Unlike most other desert plants that have small leaves to minimize moisture loss, the desert rhubarb is unique in that its leaves are particularly large; each plant's...

From the valves in a human heart to the quills on a porcupine to the petals on a summer lily, the living world is as varied as it is vast. For this to be possible, the cells that make up these living things must be just as varied. Parent cells must be able to divide in ways that create daughter cells that are different from each other, a process called asymmetric division. Scientists know how this happens in animals, but the process in plants has been a mystery.Now Stanford biologists have...

While proving a long-held theory that suberin blocks water and nutrient absorption in plants, a Purdue University scientist learned more about manipulating the substance to better feed plants.It has long been believed that suberin, a waxy substance between some plant cells, acts as a barrier for the movement of water in a plant's roots. David E. Salt, a professor of plant molecular physiology, discovered a mutant form of the plant Arabidopsis - enhanced suberin 1 or ESB1 - with twice as much...